It does kinda make sense that a thread about aging would derail into family vacations. So it goes. That's life.

So for spring break this year, my wife and I are taking the kid to Graceland. I'm sure he'll totally appreciate it. I'm going to have to spend the whole drive down talking to him about being respectful because somehow he learned that Elvis died on the toilet while he was pooping because he was ON DRUGS. Yeah, I don't know which of his douchebag friends told him that, but I had to admit that it was indeed true. I've warned him that you're not allowed to see the bathroom on the tour of Graceland, but I'm guessing he's going to try to beg his way up there.

Ironically, Graceland is on our radar too. And I remember hearing my son mention in passing about the King's "throne."It's funny, and maybe a reflection of increased awareness, visits from the local police department community outreach programs or NBC's The More You Know campaign, but drugs is the go to response from kids regarding pop star's downfalls.Just the other day, I picked up a banana and pretended it was Justin Bieber that was calling. My daughter advised me that the Biebs was no longer any good because he was on drugs and in jail. I didn't bother to correct her.

Whoa - there are more of you back than I expected! We also did our first (and so far only) trip to Disney World about five years ago, and while it was fun enough, holy Christ it was expensive for a family of five. Their business proposition seems to be double the friendliness for double the cost...I get why people are addicted to it, even those crazy people who buy houses down there in MIckeyTown or whatever it's called, but I'm not going back for a long while.

With respect to music, I still listen to new stuff, but I no longer have time to study liner notes, or lyrics, or song titles, or even album names. So if you ask me what song I liked from an artist, I'll tell you it's the one that goes "nah nah nah NAH nah" etc. Nonetheless, high points of 2014 for me were The War on Drugs, Sharon van Etten, and Sun Kil Moon (did you guys ever talk about Mark Kozelek or Sun Kil Moon back in the day? Man I love "Ghosts of the Great Highway").

Update: my kid actually did appreciate Graceland. It's changed a bit since the last time I was there. Now, instead of a human tour guide you have an iPad with headphones. There was some interactive stuff that my kid liked. And he listened to each section of the tour, and he even slowed us down and made us wait when my wife and I were trying to skip some of the boring areas of the "Trophy Room" where they're telling us about all of the charities Elvis supported. My kid was like, "IT'S NOT OVER YET." Kinda funny.

Another thing that's changed is they filled the racquetball room with more suits and gold records. I remember the first time I went laughing about how unused all of the exercise equipment looked. Well, they got rid of it all. The only other new area I noticed was they opened a little shed that Elvis used for target practice and Vernon used for smoking meet. They displayed all the shell casings and bullets that they recovered from the floor and walls in a little glass box. America!